The Debt Game
by LunaFaustus
Summary: Phoenix Fausta, a barmaid from Hargeon, finds herself in a bit of a situation when she is sold off to the rich and very popular Natsu Dragneel to pay off a debt for her best friend who owes Natsu's company millions of jewels in debt. However, whilst working under Natsu, his brother Gajeel sees Phoenix and demands for her which leads to more problems for Phoenix. Set in an AU.


Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of the characters in Fairy Tail (sigh)

Pairings: Natsu x OC and Gajeel x OC  
I realise that Gajeel and Natsu are not actually brothers in the manga so I would appreciate it if you didn't tell me. Thanks :)  
This is set in a modern AU  
Please enjoy :)

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"Come on you boys over there." I called out across the empty bar to the pair of men hiding at the back of the bar. "Yes, I'm talking to you two."

The older looking man of the pair turned to me with a pleading face. These two were the last customers lingering in the otherwise empty bar.

One was Makarov, a man short elderly man with grey hair that was very easy to get drunk and who was retired now but was once the owner of the high class Fairy Tail hotel enterprise. The Fairy Tail chain was known for its beautiful, extravagant hotels and flawless service. It was somewhere you would see celebrities, the rich and the beautiful staying. The other man next to him was an attractive blonde male who looked just as mind-blowingly attractive with his top off as he did when he had it on. He was Laxus, Makarov's grandson this was only the second time I had ever seen him here.

"Come on Phoenix~" the short man cooed. "Just one more drink…?"

I shook my head firmly, my soft red curls bouncing about my heart shaped face.

"It's way past closing time, Makarov. Even the chef has gone home." I said collecting up the empty glasses cramming their table.

The two men grumbled as they extracted themselves from their chairs and trudge out the door into the chilly, rain filled night. As they passed through the door way they both turned back to me and dropped me a friendly wave and a cheery goodbye.

"Goodnight Phoenix-chan. See you back here tomorrow night~"

The door slammed shut softly and I exhaled a breathy sigh. I twisted the lock on the door and started to stack the chairs in the corner of the bar, humming to myself. It had been a busy night and I was ready to go home and collapse on the bed.

_Maybe I'll just pick dinner up from the convenience store on the way home…_

As I dropped a chair onto the stack, there was a light tap on the window. I turned my head in surprise and saw a handsome young man hanging round outside wielding an umbrella in his gloved hands. He had light brown hair that did not look like it had been brushed all day but it still managed to look good. Despite how dark it was outside, he had a pair of dark shades covering his eyes. A glowing smoke was hanging from his lips lazily. A trail of grey curled from the glowing tip and up into the cloudy night sky.

He tapped on the window again when I made no move to let him in.

I waved a hand at him and rushed to the door to let my best friend/crush in. He dropped his smoke into a puddle and squashed it under his heel. I unlocked the door and he walked in, pulling me into a wet hug.

"Good evening Phoenix." He said warmly.

"Hi Axel!" I answered cheerily, a light blush painting my cheek. I wiped myself off as he stepped back to rest his umbrella against the wall, sparkles of water dripping onto the floor. "What are you doing here?"

"You promised you'd drink with me tonight at my place tonight. Remember?" he said taking stock of the bottles of alcohol lining the walls behind the bar.

"Oh yeah! I'd forgotten." I said putting my hands together as I remembered my promise. "Oh. I didn't bring a change of clothing. I'll pop home and get a change quickly."

Axel turned to me and grabbed my hands.

"No. Don't worry. You look stunning in your work uniform." He breathed in my ear.

I blushed and turned my head.

"Well let me get my things then…" I said disappearing into the staff room upstairs.

I picked up my bag from my work locker and flashed into the bathroom to flick at my hair and reapply a bit of lippy.

Axel, THE Axel Maximus, had said I looked stunning!

A giddy feeling rushed through me and when I felt that my appearance was good enough for Axel, I closed the staffroom door and rushed downstairs where he had already stacked away all the chairs.

"All ready now?" he asked pushing off the wall he was leaning against.

"Yes!' I said enthusiastically.

"Awesome! Let's go Phoenix." He said sweeping up his umbrella.

He opened the door for me and ushered me through into the chilly night air. I slipped my coat on as the cold attacked my bare skin viciously. He twisted the locked and pulled the door shut behind him, checking that it was locked.

"We should move quickly, before it rains again." He said as he walked, flicking his large umbrella open wide.

Thankfully, it hadn't rained too hard during our trek to his apartment, but neverless, I was grateful to get away from the chilling night air and into Axel's pre warmed home.

"Phew! It's warm in here." I commented as I shrugged my coat off.

"I knew you were coming around so I put the heaters on before I picked you up." He replied disappearing into the next room. "I know how you like to be warm."

I kicked off my shoes and followed him through to the interconnected living room/kitchen where Axel was lighting a smoke behind a low table stacked with alcoholic beverages and snacks. I frowned at him as I took a seat next to him on the floor. He took notice of my frown and hurriedly snubbed out the smoke in an ashtray behind him.

"Whoops, sorry, I forgot you don't smoke." He apologized, reaching for a long red bottle.

He poured the contents of the bottles into two shot glasses and handed me one. It was a darkly coloured liquid that had a strong scent. Axel held his up.

"Here's to a good night." He said with a wink in my direction.

I clinked my shot glass against his and we downed our shots in one go. Axel slammed his glass down on the table with a loud sigh of happiness. I placed mine next to his and grabbed a handful of the snacks nearest to me. Axel slid me a chilled can of alcohol across the table and I flicked it open with the tip of my finger.

A few drinks later…

Empty cans littered the table and floor and snack packets lay torn open in ruin. Axel slung an arm across my shoulders and he dropped a sweet drunk kiss on my cheek. I could smell the cigarette and alcohol on his breath.

I giggled a little tipsily and smack at him with the back of my hand. Suddenly a sharp pain passed through my head and my muscles cramped simultaneously throughout my body causing me to double over in pain

"Hey, you alright, Phoenix?" Axel asked, concern veined through his voice.

"Nah, I'm feeling a bit sick actually." I grumbled through the pain.

"Maybe you should sleep it off. You can sleep on my spare futon."

I struggled to my feet, my body stubbornly refusing to move properly.

"Yeah, that'd be great." I said leaning against my best friend.

He guided me to his room where the spare futon was already lain out next to his bed. He lowered me gently onto soft futon.

"There you go sweetie. Just go to sleep. I'll clean up." He said pulling up a blanket around me. "If you need me, just call, okay?"

I nodded my head and he left the room, leaving the door slightly ajar.

I curled up on the futon and closed my eyes. My head felt like it was going to exploded.

_God…it feels…like…I've got a hangover…_

Through the pounding of my head and the bedroom door I heard Axel cleaning up.

"Is the merchandise ready?" someone who was clearly not Axel spoke.

There was the sound of stacks of empty cans crashing to the floor and I faintly heard Axel reply in a low voice.

What merchandise? Was Axel in trouble?

If so, it was up to me to save him.

I sat up slowly, so not to activate the horrible cramps again. I dragged myself to my feet but I could feel sleep slowly consuming my body with a hunger. I shuffled towards the door reaching for the handle, trying to fight off the sleep.

_Must…protect….Axel…._

I let out a large yawn and my fingers brushed against the door handle but I was still too late.

I was asleep before I hit the floor.

An unknown amount of time later...

"Is she awake yet? If not, you better wake her smartly. She's on shortly." A curt voice cut through my hazy sleep.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it." A familiar voice snapped back grumpily.

I felt a hand shake my shoulder insistently and my eyes fluttered open in response. My eyes wandered and explored the blurry room briefly.

It was an unfamiliar place with dark walls and dim lights. The air in the room was stale, reeking of smoke, alcohol, sweat and fear.

Faintly I could hear yelling and shouting. My unfocussed eyes finally settled on Axel's familiar and comforting face. He looked exceedingly nervous though. In the background I could the sound of frightened sobbing.

"Axel? Where are we?" I mumbled.

His dark eyes flickered to a man dressed in a horribly expensive suit that was standing by a door, tapping his foot impatiently. Axel pulled me to my feet. I noticed his hands were trembling.

"Um, well, that doesn't really matter at this moment, Phoenix." He muttered leading me to the suit man who was slinging two metal hoops around one of his fingers lazily.

"What's going on?" I asked letting out a yawn as the metal rings were clapped round my wrists.

"You're just dreaming." The man said coaxing me from the room and into a long hallway.

"Weirdest dreamt I've ever had…" I mumbled allowing myself to be led the never-ending hallway.

The further we wandered down the hallway, the louder the yelling and shouting became. The suit man hummed cheerfully to himself as we passed through a pair of doors labelled 'STAGE'.

"Stage?" I questioned. "Am I preforming?"

"Don't you worry, sweetheart. You don't need to do anything. Just sit there like a good girl." The man said sitting me on my knees before a showy red velvet curtain.

My head dropped and I looked my bound hands that were sitting in my lap. My hair curled around my face and down onto the floor.

There was a soft swishing noise as the curtain drew back across the stage and bright lights shone down upon me. The stench of smoke invaded and overpowered my sense of smell.

"Okay Ladies and Gentlemen! Here we have number 53 and what a beauty she is! Skin as soft as silk and a soft golden brown colour. Hair the colour of rubies and glacier blue eyes that I know I certainly could stare into forever! Chest size is a generous 14F. How could you not love this delicate beauty? Well, if you don't love her yet, just wait until you set your eyes upon her face!"

I felt a rough hand knot in my hair, yanking it back so that my face was exposed to lights and a camera was thrust into my face.

A collective gasp of awe and wonder arose from the crowd.

I turned my face away from the mirror like surface of the camera lens and looked out into the blurry darkness where many faces were turned to TV screens broadcasting my face across the room. There was a mixture of ages and genders in the darkness.

"If you still don't love this sweet little thing now, you must be crazy! So, let's start the bidding. We will start it off at 165,000 jewels?"

Bidding?

The hand in my hair wasn't letting up on the grip and my neck was starting to get sore.

"170,000 jewels!" someone called from the darkness.

I did a double take. Since when did people feel pain in dreams?

"180,000 jewels!" another person called.

Then it finally clicked through in my sleep soaked brain.

"190,000 jewels!"

This wasn't a dream at all! This was actually happening! Dread filled my body and I wanted to scream but my throat was dry.

"200,000 jewels!"

This was what people called a slave market and I was being auctioned off. But who would do this to me? Why was this happening to me?

"500,000 jewels!"

Panic pounded a frantic beat in my chest and I tried to struggle but my body failed to respond to what my brain was telling it.

An older man stood up, he seemed to be about in his 50s.

"1 million jewels!" he announced.

The crowd grew silent and the bidding stopped. Everyone turned to look at him. He smirked triumphantly and I flinched as he made eye contact with me.

_Oh god. Not him. Anyone but him…_

"Any other offers for this little gem?"

Silence. Dead silence.

"None? Going once."

I squeezed my eyes shut, seeing as that was the only part of my body that responded to my brain.

"Going twice."

_Not him!_

Suddenly there was the sound of a briefcase flicking open. Then the sound of jewels striking the ground around me.

"10 million jewels. Right here, right now." A new voice came from in front of me.

My eyes snapped open and they shot up. I could see the outline of a powerful figure with what seemed to be pink hair standing above me. A little blue winged cat-like creature hovered above his shoulder.

There was another collective gasp from the crowd, this time, it was one of astonishment and from the corner of my eye, I saw the older man sit down looking sullen. I breathed a light sigh of relief.

_I'm saved…_

"Whoooo! 10 million jewels! Anyone care to bid higher? Going once. Going twice. Sold! To purchaser number 5630. What a fantastic purchase!"

The hand was released from my hair and my neck was finally allowed to relax once again. The empty briefcase that had been holding the jewels that were now littering the floor fell to the ground to join them. The man that had been holding my head back stepped forward and calmly began to collect up the jewels. I watched him as he picked up each and every shining piece with care.

_So this is what I'm worth._

Tears of humiliation burned in the corners of my eyes. Who would really do this to me? Who would let people sell me off like I was a piece of meat?

I felt hands slide around my waist and then I felt myself being slung over the shoulder of the person who had purchased me. His scent reminded me of a fire, which I found was strange but I enjoyed it. I also noticed that his skin was unusually warm.

Another suited man walked up to me and popped a small round pill in my mouth that dissolved on my tongue.

"Here, have this." The suit man said commandingly.

As it dissolved, I felt myself becoming tired again. My eyes started to droop closed despite my best attempts to keep them open.

"Right Happy, let's get this girl home." The purchaser said to the little blue cat next to him.

"Aye!" it replied.

However, before I succumbed to the temptation of sleep I managed to catch the face of the person receiving the briefcase containing 10 million jewels.

I saw a handsome young man hanging round behind the red curtain, reaching out for the briefcase containing my worth with gloved hands. He had light brown hair that did not look like it had been brushed all day but it still managed to look good. Despite how dark it was inside the room, he had a pair of dark shades covering his eyes. A glowing smoke was hanging from his lips lazily. A trail of grey curled from the glowing tip and up into the flickering darkness lazily.

His lips curled up into a greedy smile and he turned his back on me.

Axel Maximus…

My supposed 'best friend'.

One word flitted through my foggy mind.

_Why…_

* * *

_Hello everyone!  
Yes, it's a new story (please don't kill me! I will get round to doing other chapters so please be patient!)  
I hope you all enjoyed this.  
Could you please tell me if you enjoyed it so that I can decide whether I will continue to write this or not.  
Please drop me a fave/follow/review as they all inspire me to keep writing and updating.  
I look forward to hearing your opinions :)  
Love LunaFaustus 3  
xoxo_


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